Drowning Sounds Fun
by mistertimn
Summary: #tw: death Dave rents a sailboat for a romantic afternoon on the water with John. NOTE: I have no idea how boats work. Excuse improper use of language/things that don't make sense.


John stepped off the 57th street bus at Harbour Centre Station and blinked a few times, adjusting to the bright sun. The sight of the marina greeted him as his vision cleared. Hundreds of speedboats, sailboats, and even the odd yacht where moored at the multiple docks that crisscrossed the green-blue water like a floating, wooden spider web. John pulled a crumpled piece of paper out of his pocket, with the words 'dock 7, 11:30' scrawled on it. Checking his watch, and realizing it was already quarter to twelve, he hurries down the metal ramp to the network of docks, and quickly find the one he's looking for.

Standing about 6 boats down, next to a small sailboat, Dave waves at John, calling him over. A smile grows on John's face as he runs towards with boyfriend.

"Dave!" he says, planting a kiss on his cheek. "What's all this?" he inquires, gesturing to the boat.

"I figured we'd do something out of the ordinary today, I managed to find a cheap rental on, I mean, a very expensive, high class, rental, on Craigslist." Dave responds, a sunglasses glinting in the morning sun.

"Oooh, high class. Very posh, I'm assuming champagne is included?" mentions in his best upper class voice.

"Well, I don't know about that, but I have a case of Dr. Pepper."

John laughs as he steps onto the boat after Dave, who has crouched down near the bow and is untying them from the dock. John sits down against the mast, looking up at the cloudless sky. He is interrupted by Dave, who nudges him with his foot to get him to move so he can untie the sail. As they begin to drift out towards the exit from the marina, John turns to Dave.

"Dave, where's the lifejackets?" he asks, a bit concerned. He's not a very strong swimmer.

Dave replies sarcastically. "Eh, I figured that drowning sounds fun, so I threw them overboard." he then looks over the top of his sunglasses, revealing his bright red irises. "And that's Captain Dave to you."

After some ham sandwiches and Dr. Pepper, John and Dave lay next to each other, hand in hand, up near the front of the boat. John sighed happily, and nuzzled his head up to Dave's neck, resting his head on his shoulder.

"This is great Dave. I love you."

Dave smiles and rests his head on John's. "I love you too, John."

Laying in the summer sun, floating just offshore, the two slowly drifted off to sleep.

But they weren't the only things who drifted somewhere.

Dave had forgotten to anchor the boat in place when they had finished lunch, and within half an hour the limp sails have caught a wind, and the boat slowly made it's way farther from shore. John and Dave slept on, not noticing the fast disappearing skyline of the city.

John squirmed slightly in Dave's arms as he woke up. The first thing he noticed is that he was wet. His entire left side was soaked. Wriggling out of his boyfriends embrace, he rubs his eyes and looks around. He quickly notices the fact that the boat has tilted to the left, and has become partially submerged. He begins to panic slightly, and tries to rouse Dave.

"Dave. Dave! I. I think something's wrong…" he says worriedly as Dave sits up, scratching his head.

"What d'ya mean."

John points to the side of the boat now underwater. "That's what I mean."

"Oh shit!" curses Dave, jumping to his feet. "Move to this side of the boat, maybe we can balance it out." Dave asserts as he scrambles to the slowly rising side, extending a hand to pull John up.

John looks up to Dave, panic in his eyes. "D- Dave. What happened?"

He looks down to the water. "I. I' not sure. We must have drifted while we were asleep and side swept something, there's probably a hole over there." he points to the submerged side. "But I don't get why. I'm sure I…" he stops abruptly. "Oh god this is all my fault. I forgot to drop the fucking anchor." he says, angry at himself for being so stupid.

"Shh, Dave it's okay. We'll. We'll figure it out." John responds quietly, not sounding too sure "Is there some way we can get the boat floating again?"

"Probably not, if we took on this much water this fast there's probably a bit hole in the hull, not even a pump would do anything."

John grows more worried. "There's no radio to call for help? No life raft?"

Dave shakes his head, staring at his feet. "I told you it was a cheap rental…"

John starts to say something, but is interrupted when the boat give a shudder, and begins to slide into the water faster. "Oh god. Oh god." John panics, and Dave places a hand on his shoulder to calm him.

"It's okay. It'll be okay. I'm going to go down and try and start the pump. I don't know if it'll do anything, but it's worth a shot."

"Be careful Dave. Please." John whispers, pulling his boyfriend into a hug.

Dave whispers in his ear "I will." before pulling away, and sliding down towards the hatch into the boat, yanking it open and disappearing into it while John watches from the almost vertical side of the boat.

Dave splashes down into the small seating area. Food, cans of pop, and cushions float in the slowly rising water. Swimming over to the red marker on the wall signalling where the pump switch can be found, he takes off his sunglasses and takes a breath of air. Diving down through the murky water, Dave feels around for the switch, quickly finding it and flipping it on. A quiet hum fills the water. Smiling slightly to himself, he kicks up off the bottom of the boat and launches up to the surface. He breaks the water and looks around. The water has rises exponentially, and it still creeping up, faster than before.

Trying not to panic, he begins to kick towards the open hatch, and it stopped by something wrapped around his ankle. Diving down, he feels for it, and finds some rope looped around it, caught on something on the bottom. He tries to loosen it, but can't seem to. Panic growing in the pit of his stomach, he tries again, more frantically. Still not able to, he swims up for a breath of air, but finds nothing but water, and the ceiling.

Diving back down, chest burning from the lack of oxygen, he tries to free himself from the rope again. Fingers clawing at the knot that has formed, he can see the darkness creeping in at the edge of his vision. How long had it been? 3 minutes 4? All he knew was that he didn't have much time left. He feels the knot loosen, finally, and frees his ankle. Again, he kicks off from the bottom, body starved for air.

He forgets how high the water had gotten.

Having pushed off his such force, and already being weak from being underwater so long, Dave collides with the ceiling, and blacks out.

John is standing on the edge of the boat, water up to his waist, screaming Dave's name. Hoping he would appear from under the water. He had been counting. 7 minutes had already passed, and the inside of the boat was surely completely full by now. The water is up to his neck now, small ripples form from the tears rolling down his face and off his chin. Feeling the boat sink away from under his feet, John kicks his feet frantically, trying to keep his head up. Panic has taken over his entire body, frantic breathing causes him to swallow copious amounts of salt water.

12 minutes later, his last breath is exhaled in the form of a few small bubbles, and his now lifeless form bobs to the surface.

1 and a half weeks later, search and rescue informed John's dad and Dave's brother that the body of John had been found 2 and a quarter miles off the coast. The boat and Dave had not been recovered.


End file.
